What is boral stress and in what types can it be expressed? You must start this article warning that it will be impossible to enumerate each and every one of the causes that can cause a worker to stress, therefore, necessarily, they will have to be grouped and, therefore, simplify the problem. In this article we will provide you information about work stressors along with their types and classification and examples.
It is also essential to draw a line between what are specific levels of stress and those maintained over time . It’s normal to experience some stress from time to time; It helps us get the job done. Here, we’ll talk about ongoing stress situations, those that overwhelm a worker’s ability to feel in control of the task, the work environment, or their own emotions.
The emergence of stress at work
Roughly speaking, a worker will feel stress at work when he perceives that there is a lack of adaptation between his resources and the demands of the environment . Ideally, there should be an adjustment between the person and the environment, but when this adjustment does not occur, stress situations are generated. Instead, stress occurs when the person is aware that this adjustment does not exist because the demands or conditions of work exceed their capacity for endurance.
Excessive workload, lack of control over work, inadequate reward , role ambiguity, toxic boss, some demanding colleagues, crazy schedules, boredom, feeling of injustice, distress or lack of professional development, tasks with impossible deadlines, demands emotions of the position, own skills…
The list can be endless and every worker can have circumstances that are a source of stress. Sometimes you won’t even be able to identify them concretely. Where do we start then?
Types and classification of work stressors
A first way to identify stressors can be to classify them into three groups: those that refer to the specific position, those that refer to the organization and the person himself . Other, perhaps more remote, factors that have more to do with the political/economic/legal/cultural structure of the work dynamic can also be included.
This “magma” in which organizations and workers settle is undergoing slow but profound changes, which condition many of the “precipitating” factors of stress.
References to the organization (inappropriate work design or inappropriate environment)
In this first category of work stressors, we fundamentally find the following problems.
1. Conflict and/or role ambiguity
In office workers, it is one of the main stressors associated with the job. It occurs when the worker really does not know what is expected of him or is not clear about his goals or responsibilities. He is given contradictory orders, does not know where the task boundaries are or what his work is judged on. This is a typical problem in large, unstructured organizations .
2. Function Overloading
It is also given by a bad distribution of work. The worker is entrusted with more responsibilities than he can assume, whether due to time, training or hierarchy. There is also “role underloading”, when a worker’s abilities are underestimated and they are assigned tasks that are not consistent with their training or skills.
3. Communication problems and interdepartmental conflicts
Conflict between departments due to conflicting goals between them, a power imbalance between them, or poor communication.
4. Insufficient career and development plans
People aspire to improve and expect their companies to help them through training and professional development. If the company is not able to meet career expectations, deep dissatisfaction can occur in the worker. The problem can be aggravated if the company had already fed these expectations.
5. Organizational structure
If the company or organization is highly hierarchical, it is likely that decisions will not reach lower levels and that top-down communication will be poor . This is a source of dissatisfaction and stress.
6. Work climate
Tension within the organization, excessive control over workers and conflicting relationships increase stress among workers and, finally, can lead to extreme situations of aggression (moral harassment or harassment in the workplace) or emotional exhaustion (wear and tear). . Both have a lot to do with the organizational climate and culture , although in the case of bullying, the help of an aggressor or “aggressor” is also necessary.
7. The location of the company itself and its design or services offered to the worker
For example, a job that is far from home or lack of services such as parking, cafeteria, etc. This can extend the working day or having to invest free time to alleviate some of these shortcomings.
associated with work
In this category, we find the following types of work stressors.
1. Job insecurity
Precarious and temporary work is a focus of pressure and stress .
2. Mental load needed to perform the task
Whether the task requires constant attention or mental effort.
3. Control over the task
It is one of the variables most associated with stress at work in many of the studies carried out. It occurs when the worker does not have control over the tasks to be performed and / or cannot organize their work schedule or content, as it depends on third parties or situations beyond their ability to maneuver.
4. Task variety and complexity
If the task is too monotonous or too complex, it will cause stress.
5. Task identity and coherence within the organization
The worker must know what his individual – or group – impact is within the context of the organization. If the worker feels that his work is useless, not visible or expendable, he will experience frustration .
6. Intradepartmental relations
As with interdepartmental ones, poor relationships with close colleagues cause stress and can lead to other more acute problems .
7. Physical conditions of work
Factors such as poor lighting, excessive noise, temperature, humidity, pollution, etc. would come in here.
8. Material working conditions
Not having the right stuff (computers that are too slow, machines that aren’t working properly, etc.) can also create moments of continual stress.
9. The physical risks of work
This would include all those that can cause musculoskeletal damage; long days standing and without the possibility to move or sit, carrying weight, forced postures, handling hazardous and / or toxic materials, rigid positions when using the computer, physical and visual fatigue, etc.
10. Turn over booths and night shifts
They carry a major impact and disorder on a physical and psychological level .
11. Compensation for work linked to objectives
If the goals are set too high, they can cause stress or neglect (if you fail to reach them).
12. Schedules, breaks and vacations
Very long days and/or accumulation of long days for weeks , no breaks between tasks, etc.
Related to the person
We said at the beginning that stress occurs when a person feels a mismatch between the demands of the environment and his own abilities. Therefore, worker personality plays an important role in the threat assessment. Some personality traits can fuel or lessen feelings of stress and influence our coping strategies.
1. Emotional control
There are people who manage to maintain great control over their emotions and are able to adapt them to the moment and situation. Positive and negative emotions are part of life and work. It is important to deal with them properly and maintain a balance , without exaggerating negative emotions or denying them.
2. Emotional empathy
Just as you need to know how to manage your own emotions, it’s important to recognize the emotions of others and know how to empathize with them. This will facilitate good relationships with colleagues and make the person have “social support” within the organization. Social support has been consistently linked to less experience of stress.
3. Capacity for self-motivation
It is achieved through intrinsic motivation, the feeling that the work itself has “meaning”, the perception of self-efficacy in the assigned task and the recognition of others. Motivation is also a stress absorber.
4. The degree of determination
Understood as the ability to self-sponsor, reliability, the systematic and orderly approach to tasks has been consistently associated with job satisfaction and lower levels of stress. However, perfectionism and the degree of self-demand are personality traits strongly associated with experiencing stress.
5. Emotional stability
The worker’s emotional stability will greatly influence his mood and his perception of stress. If the worker is experiencing unstable vital moments in other aspects of his life, this will also affect his level of stress at work.
6. Food, sleep and exercise
Leading healthy lifestyles increases the chances of managing stress.
Factors related to political and social structure
Few human realities have changed since the beginning of time and work relationships. Change is the norm and the magnitude of change in this area has been colossal. Not so long ago, a steady job for life was sought . Today, this is yet another rare exception, more linked to management than to private companies. The massive incorporation of women that began in the middle of the last century, the strength of developing economies, mainly Asian, which profoundly modified the industrial fabric on a global scale, etc.
In the last twenty years, other trends are having a strong impact on the way we relate to our work and the companies that give us work . We can highlight some of them:
- Jobs have become insecure and temporary types of contracts are imposed .
- Overtime has progressively increased. Usually without financial compensation.
- Variables linked to productivity and indexes that demand better results for workers year after year were introduced.
- Middle and upper-level workers in companies, whose jobs were relatively more stable at the end of the SXX, are experiencing more job insecurity .
- The global crisis that began in 2007 contributed to the destruction of many jobs and the precariousness of others.
- Social networks (extended family, social coverage), traditionally protective of the worker, are disappearing.
- Individualism, labor mobility and the lifestyle of big cities make workers more isolated.
- Some types of work are changing profoundly as a result of the introduction of new technologies.
In short, jobs have become more insecure, while workers are more vulnerable . The level of demand has increased and social support tends to decrease. These circumstances may explain why, in some industrialized countries, stress has replaced muscular problems as the main cause of absence from work.
